Help with narrow laundry room

chrisrspragueFebruary 22, 2013

Attached is a photograph of the laundry room of a house I am currently under contract for (closing in just over a week). As you can see, it currently lacks a washer and dryer, and I would like to purchase a set as soon as possible after closing.

The room is 4.5' wide by 12.5' deep. I am fairly certain that the only way to fit a full size washer and dryer in there is to mount them, stacked one on top of the other, against the left wall, facing the laundry room door.

Is this correct? What I'm confused about is the hookups. The dryer hookup looks the way you'd expect with this configuration, but the washer hookup looks oddly placed - directly to the side of where the units would go, perhaps even slightly in front of them!

I can't determine what was here before and how it was set up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I like a side by side hook up because there is easy access to both machines with ease. With a stacked set you have the added weight of the dryer on top of the washer and it makes it a little harder to move to gain access to the rear of the machines.

It appears that the intention is for a side by side top loading installation. The dryer is in the corner with its left side facing the doorway, right side facing the window. The washer is to the left of the dryer in the plastic pan.

mrb627 - perhaps it isn't clear from the picture (it's a little dark), but there is just over 1 foot of space between the pan and the wall. The floor has 12" tiles, the pan covers part of one, and the next one is only partial before being cut off by the wall. There is definitely not room for a dryer between the pan and the wall.

Hence my belief that the previous owners had their machines stacked. It's the only configuration that makes sense to me. I also have reason to believe that, based on the mere 4.5' width of the room, they were oriented facing the door.

Using the dryer in my apartment as an example, my dryer has to be 6-7" out from the wall to allow room for the vent tube. The unit itself is 25" deep, which is really on the small side (I can't find any modern non-compacts that are less than 27"D). With the door open, and I just measured, the end of the door is 55" inches out from the wall.

This room is only 54" deep, so even that small dryer wouldn't fit this laundry room if oriented side by side. I wouldn't be able to open the door all the way, and would only have about 15" of maneuverability to access the front of the dryer.

It is only 7.5' long and 5.5' wide. People could get away with such small spaces because they had top loaders a couple of decades ago.

With my full-size W&D, I have to do a lot of maneuvering to get the laundry in and out.

Do you need that window for lighting?

If not, I'd stack W&D with their backs to the window. I don't think there is a law that says you cannot have the water hook-up to the left of the washer.

If you don't want to see the hoses, you can place some kind of partitioning to cover the side gaps.

I'd even consider deleting the window all together. It is not very expensive, I just had several of the old and drafty windows closed as they served no function, even for looks, and were behind closed blinds for 10 years.

What do you thnk about putting in a top load washer and a top load dryer side by side? That should leave just enough space to maneuver in front of the machines if placed side by side along the long wall. I didn't know a top load dryer even existed until I read the thread below, but evidently Fisher Paykel makes them.